General Statement
I do a lot of data science, and combined with my consulting experience, this means I’ve covered a lot of ground- analytically, dealing with many types of data both big and small, and with ideas, just burgeoning or traipsing well established domains. Clients come from a wide variety of backgrounds and the range of their needs is quite extensive. In a given week, I might help someone with some code to scrape the web, employ a Bayesian model to incorporate spatial random effects, use machine learning techniques to predict rare events, develop theoretical motivations to eventually be tested with structural equation modeling, or maybe help an undergrad understand some regression basics. Among my own work, clarity, especially via visualization, as well as reproducibility, are the goals I continually strive for.
I enjoy empowering people and helping them discover the secrets hidden in their data. Underlying all of my efforts is a willingness to use whatever means necessary to gain more knowledge about the underlying mechanisms that produce the information (in the form of data) we seek to understand, and a view of science as software development, continually upgraded, and never static.
Skills
Programming
I primarily work within the R statistical environment for most of my own needs, including the development of my own packages, and I have years of experience with it. I use Stan for Bayesian analysis, and Python for things such as web scraping, text analysis, machine learning, and deep learning. I have experience utilizing a high performance computing environment and parallel processing in general.
I develop R packages primarily for personal use or for fun, but I also use them to improve my coding skills by adhering to common coding standards, striving for high code coverage, and engaging in unit testing. All would pass CRAN checks as well. These include: mixedup, confusionMatrix, visibly, noiris, tidyext, gammit, lazerhawk, 198R, five38clubrankings. In addition to these, though they are not publicly available, I’ve created more packages for work-related projects.
Demonstration, i.e. ‘by-hand’, code for dozens of models and algorithms may be found here.
Analysis
On the analytical side, aside from traditional methods with generalized linear models, mixed models, and latent variable models, I’ve also extended those approaches to the Bayesian world and expanded upon them there. I’ve examined nonlinear relationships via additive models, gaussian processes, etc. I’ve analyzed different types of networks and graphical models generally. I have explored time and space issues via mixed/multilevel/growth model frameworks, survival analysis, and spatial models for both the discrete and continuous setting. I’ve utilized machine learning approaches in a variety of settings and contexts. I’ve also dealt with unstructured data situations such as that found in the analysis of text.
Workshops
I conduct workshops on a near monthly basis. These explore a variety of topics covering programming, analysis, visualization and more. Most are shorter expositions to introduce a topic or tool. Others are more involved, and might take a whole afternoon or day, and I will also give some of these to specific groups.
Professional Experience
Statistician Lead CSCAR, University of Michigan 
Since 2015, I’ve held a position providing statistical consultation for faculty and students from various disciplines across campus, as well as serving as analytical lead or providing consulting services for specific research projects. I also conduct workshops related to statistical programming and modeling techniques.
Statistical Consultant CSSR, University of Notre Dame 
Previously, I held a position providing aid at any stage of various research projects for students, staff and faculty from various departments on campus, particularly, but not exclusive to, those of the Social Sciences.
Other
Lecturer, Teaching fellow, Research assistant, Test center administrator, Book department clerk, Assistant at a behavioral health care center, Phone survey conductor, Stable-hand, Pizza delivery driver and cook, Odd jobs via temporary agency, General retail.
Education
Ph.D. Experimental Psychology, Concentration: Statistics, UNT 
B.Sc. Philosophy & Psychology, Cum Laude, TCU 
Education does not end with a degree. I continue learning both formally and informally by attending workshops, conferences, and talks, and take an occasional online course to further my skills.
Advancement of Research
One of my primary duties is to strengthen research by bringing sound and advanced methods to a variety of disciplines. While not a first author due to my role as consultant, almost every academic paper I’ve been affiliated with across several disciplines has at least 10 citations, with a median number of citations of 31, an h-index of 14, an i10 index of 14 and g-index of 6.
Representative
George, B. et al. (2017). Readiness of US General Surgery Residents for Independent Practice. Annals of Surgery. (link to article; 99th Altmetric percentile)
Archie, E.A., Tung, J., Clark, M., Altmann, J., Alberts, S.C. (2014). Social affiliation matters: both same-sex and opposite-sex relationships predict survival in wild female baboons. Proceedings of the Royal Society: of London Series B. (link to article; 99th Altmetric percentile)
The following are more involved living documents I’ve authored. I update these every year or two, and along with other documents I provide, they are downloaded thousands of times per month.
- Clark, M. Practical Data Science.
- Clark, M. Models by Example.
- Clark, M. Mixed Models with R.
- Clark, M. Generalized Additive Models.
- Clark, M. Bayesian Basics.
- Clark, M. Graphical and Latent Variable Modeling.
- Clark, M. Introduction to Machine Learning.
Recent
In progress
Kabo, F. et al. (2021). Associations between EZproxy use and undergraduate student GPA. Library Assessment Conference.
King, C. et al. (under revision). LET’s CONNECT Community Mentorship Program for Adolescents with Peer Social Problems: A Randomized Intervention Trial.
Vu, J., George, B.C., Clark, M., et al. (submitted). Readiness of Graduating General Surgery Residents to Perform Colorectal Procedures.
Kendrick, D.E., Chen, X., Jones, A.T., Clark, M. et al. (under revision). Is Initial Board Certification Associated with Better Early-career Surgical Outcomes?
Abbot, K.L., Krumm, A.E., Kelley, J., Kendrick, D.E., Clark, M. et al. (submitted). Misalignment between training priorities and operative performance for US general surgery residents.
Chervin, R. et al. (in preparation). CPAP after Adenotonsillectomy for Pediatric Sleep-Disordered Breathing.
Published, Presented, In Press
Kabo, F., Paulson, N., Varnum, K., Bradley, D., Teasley, S., & Clark, M. (2020). Associations between EZproxy use and undergraduate student GPA. To be presented at the Library Assessment Conference 2020.
Schuler, B. R., Bauer, K.W., Lumeng, J.C., Rosenblum, K., Clark, M., Miller, A.L. (2020). Poverty and Food Insecurity Predict Mealtime Structure: Mediating Pathways of Parent Disciplinary Practices and Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
Kim, G. et al. (2020). Mind the Gap: The Autonomy Perception Gap in the Operating Room by Surgical Residents and Faculty. Journal of Surgical Education.
Schuler, B. R., et al. (2020). Economic Hardship and Child Intake of Foods High in Saturated Fats and Added Sugars: The Mediating Role of Parenting Stress among High-Risk Families. Public Health Nutrition.
Scully, M.E., Deal, S.B., Clark, M.J., et al. (2020). Concordance between expert and non-expert ratings of condensed video-based trainee operative performance assessment. Journal of Surgical Education.
Daniel E. Kendrick, D.E., Matusko, N. Hamstra, S.J. Clark, M., et al. (2020) Examining the Generation of Milestone Ratings by Clinical Competency Committees: a Single-Institution Exploratory Factor Analysis. Presented at the Association of Program Directors in Surgery Meeting.
Deal, S., Scully, R.E., Clark, M.J., George, B.C., Alseidi, A. (2020). Crowd-sourced and attending assessment of general surgery resident operative performance using global ratings scales. Presented at the Association of Program Directors in Surgery Meeting.
Kendrick, D.E., Clark, M., Chen, X., et al. (2020). Comparing hospital and surgeon contributions to the likelihood of a severe complication. Presented at the 32nd Annual Moses Gunn Research Conference.
Dabney, B., Kalisch, B., and Clark, M. (2019). A Revised MISSCARE Survey: Results from Pilot Testing. Applied Nursing Research.
Abbot, K, Chen, X., Clark, M. et al. (2019). Number of operative performance ratings needed to reliably assess the difficulty of surgical procedures. Journal of Surgical Education.
Schuler, B. R., Bauer, K.W., Lumeng, J. C., Rosenblum, K., Clark, M., & Miller, A. L. (2019). Food Insecurity and Parenting Styles: Pathways to Mealtime Structure among Low-Income Families. Presentation at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Ahle, S. L., Schuller, M., Clark, M. J., et al. (2019). Do End-of-Rotation Evaluations Adequately Assess Readiness to Operate? Academic Medicine.
King, C. et al. (2018). Let’s Connect Community Mentorship Program for Youth with Peer Social Problems: Preliminary Findings from a Randomized Effectiveness Trial. Journal of Community Psychology.
Arango, A., et al. (2018). The Protective Role of Connectedness on Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Bully Victimized Youth. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
Research Projects
Part of my job entails taking lead on analysis or consulting on various research projects, with differing levels of involvement. I note the ones I am/was more involved with here as recently. Principal Investigator in parenthesis.
Surgical training and education (Brian George)
- Currently my largest proportion of time, this project uses various methods to investigate how well surgeons are prepared for the challenges they will ultimately face in practice.
Library Learning Analytics (Felichism Kabo)
- Examining patterns of modern academic library usage.
Image detection and classification of kidney glomeruli (Markus Bitzer)
- Using deep learning and other methods for image analysis.
Sleep Disorders in Youth after Adenotonsillectomy (Ronald Chervin)
- This research focuses on sleep problems and potential solutions, especially in children.
Development of a tool to assess missed nursing care (Beverly Dabney)
- Nurses are very busy people, and sometimes things don’t always get taken care of the way we would like them to be. This study developed a scale to help assess the extent of the problems and why they occur.
Coda
I like answering difficult questions with thoughtful approaches to analyzing data, and also just having fun with an interesting challenge. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the things I’m up to!